The 2009 APEC Leaders’ Declaration stated the necessity of advancing APEC economic growth in a sustainable, balanced and inclusive manner. In addition, Leaders called for APEC to enhance growth through innovation and a knowledge-based economy. Subsequently, APEC has developed the APEC Growth Strategy in 2010 which focuses on five dimensions of growth: balanced growth, inclusive growth, sustainable growth, innovative growth, and secure growth.

During the 2010 1st ABAC Meeting in Melbourne, ABAC Chinese Taipei proposed the ABAC Knowledge-Based Growth Initiative, which has been renamed the ABAC Innovative Growth Initiative. The Initiative has received strong endorsement from ABAC members. The Initiative comprises an opinion survey and the ABAC Knowledge-Based Growth (KBG) Symposium which was held during the 2010 2nd ABAC Meeting in Taipei. Furthermore, the Initiative includes a report that reviews the current state of innovative growth, provides best practices and suggests ways to advance innovative growth in the APEC region.

Most importantly, the report of the Initiative has provided several suggestions for strengthening innovative growth. For example, in the area of human resource development, it is suggested that APEC could set up an Institute of Excellence in collaboration with companies and universities. In addition, training for ICT applications should be part of lifelong learning system. A suggestion in the area of business environment is that APEC could create “market knowledge centers” that will assist SMEs through providing consultancy, organizing overseas business missions and offering integrated market research data.